


at the border

by fisheyechain



Series: sideways [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Gen, Minor Violence, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-17 07:47:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28845573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fisheyechain/pseuds/fisheyechain
Summary: "If you step outside, you'll be dead in four hours."In a world that's practically designed to be uninhabitable, Sicheng longs to go outside.
Relationships: Dong Si Cheng | WinWin & Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin & Qian Kun
Series: sideways [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2142072
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22
Collections: Challenge #4 — Awaken The World





	at the border

**Author's Note:**

> written for A Little Wonder fest for the 4th round, Awaken the World
> 
> many thanks to my beta for helping me with this fic!!

Cautionary signs line the magnetic border of the Settlements, warning against the dangers of the outside world. "If you step outside, you'll be dead in four hours," one reads.

Sicheng scoffs, kicking a rock through the Barrier. He watches the air ripple slightly as the barrier adjusts itself at the brief intrusion and settles again. If he were that rock, he thinks, he would be in excruciating pain right about now. 

It can't be comfortable when that dust settles and sticks in your skin, your eyes, your lungs and proceeds to react as if in a frenzy - essentially spreading poison throughout your body like ink might spread through a wet piece of paper. Not to mention the sun's deadly rays glaring down on your skin, doing who knows what horrible things to your cells. And all the chemicals hanging around in the air? Best not to mention them at all. The Barrier is designed to let things out but not in - a precautionary measure against the dust, but it applies to human beings as well. Once you step outside fully, your chances of survival drop to zero.

Apparently, the sensation is mild at first, like a tickling sting and a vague sense that something is very wrong. But then, as things tend to do, it goes downhill very quickly - your skin sears, something claws at the inside of your throat, your lungs seem to crumple further with each breath you take; the list goes on. Accounts are rare, but they've all been consistent in saying that it's the worst pain they've ever experienced. Four hours? You'd want to die in four minutes.

Good thing he's not that rock, then. Giving the expansive emptiness beyond the Barrier one final glance, he turns and climbs down into the canyon, back to the Settlements.

* * *

For as long as Sicheng can remember, he's had a fascination with the world beyond the Barrier, even despite (or maybe because) of its deadliness. As a child who didn't know how to be afraid, he had no qualms climbing up the cliffs and sitting next to the Barrier, sometimes for hours, to escape the thugs in the inner Settlements. It was only when some time passed, and he climbed down the cliffs to head back, that he realized how _constricting_ the Settlements were. Cliffs towered over him from all sides, and the narrowness of the canyon only allowed a thin slice of sky to bleed through. Child Sicheng wailed about being crushed when he returned to the Settlements, not that anyone was there to listen to him.

Compared to the Settlements, the world beyond the Barrier is so large and open, so _free_. It's inexplicable; the outside world remains unchanged, for the most part, and the Settlements are in constant flux, and yet it is not the Settlements that manage to hold Sicheng's attention. Even years and years after first sitting down at the top of the cliffs, everything about the outside makes Sicheng's breath hitch in excitement like it's his first time seeing it. How the sky goes from black to red to an orange-yellow as the day goes on. How, on some days, he can see the faint haze of the chemicals in the air. How a sudden gust of wind might sweep everything outside into motion. Simple things, but they never lose their beauty.

His brother doesn't understand Sicheng's fascination, but to Kun's credit, he's not mindlessly afraid of being so close to the Barrier, like so many people are, either. He's cautious, but he's also logical enough to know that he won't fall through if he's careful. He tolerates Sicheng's obsession with the outside world well enough.

No one has it easy in the Settlements, but Kun and Sicheng are two of the lucky few who don't have it hard. Sicheng finds Kun unbearably stagnant, but Kun is kind enough not to push that stagnancy onto him as well, and Sicheng appreciates him for it. They've never spent much time with each other, so they're not close by any means, but he would be a good person if good people existed, Sicheng thinks.

* * *

Sicheng walks to the Barrier one day and finds, for the first time, another person sitting there. At first, he's uncomfortable - _that's my spot_ , he thinks childishly - but the discomfort quickly passes when the person looks back at him, and in their eyes he can see that _oh. They're like me._

So he introduces himself instead, sits down beside them, and the person introduces themselves as Yongqin. 

They sit together in silence, for the most part. But occasionally, Yongqin will point out an odd looking cloud, or Sicheng will draw his attention to the mountain range in the distance. 

The companionship is strangely comfortable, but Sicheng supposes that's just what happens when it seems like they're the only two people in the world who are alike. 

The days pass. Yongqin shows up nearly every day. He begins to tell Sicheng things about his family - especially Yangyang, his little brother. Sicheng isn't particularly interested - happenings in the Settlements are uninteresting, in general - but he likes Yongqin's company well enough, so he indulges the conversation. 

Then one day, Yongqin asks after Kun. By name.

Startled, Sicheng rips his gaze from the horizon to look at Yongqin, who stares at him with a sharp look in his eyes. Sicheng doesn't recall telling him Kun's name… he doesn't recall telling Yongqin he had a brother at all.

"You know Kun?" he asks, shocked. "How?"

Yongqin blinks, and suddenly his gaze is relaxed, friendly. "Bumped into each other a few times some time back. He really helped me out," he says easily. 

Yongqin doesn't give more details, and Sicheng doesn't ask for them, so they spend the rest of their time watching the sky turn dark until they bid farewell to each other and head back home. The fact that Kun and Yongqin know each other, surprising as it is, slips from his mind easily.

* * *

Yongqin isn't here today. It's a bit odd, sitting down without needing to exchange greetings with anyone. But it doesn't matter much to him.

It's windy outside. Dust whips through the air, seeming to come no further at an invisible wall - the Barrier. Sicheng can barely make out the silhouettes of the mountains in the distance. It would be particularly dangerous to go outside today.

Windy days are a beautiful rarity; in fact, in his years of watching the outside world, he can't say he's ever experienced one. He watches in wonder as the reddish, grayish dust swirl around in the air, mesmerized by the unknowable patterns they form. Every time he thinks he's found the pattern, the wind proves him wrong and shifts the dust into a new dance. 

It's especially hot today, even though the dust blocks most of the sunlight.

He's still in the same position when hasty footsteps approach him from behind. _So Yongqin's here, then._ He doesn't turn to greet him.

But it is Kun's voice that pants, "Sicheng. You need to get away from here, _now_."

Sicheng turns to see Kun leaning over with his hands on his knees, struggling to catch his breath. "I thought you were Yongqin," he says, confused. 

"You thought I was- never mind, we'll talk about this later. Let's _go_ , Sicheng!" Kun grabs his arm and tugs at it.

Sicheng remains stubbornly in place. "It's windy today," he complains. "I won't get to see this again for a while."

"The guy has a point." Yongqin's voice cuts through. Both Sicheng and Kun pause and turn their heads to see him striding towards them. "It would be a shame to waste this kind of day."

Kun tugs at his arm again, more frantically this time. "Sicheng, seriously, _get up!_ " he hisses quietly. Louder, he calls, "I would agree, _Ten_ , if you weren't right here with him."

One particularly strong pull from Kun makes Sicheng snatch his arm back and scoot away in annoyance. "Stop it," he grumbles, rubbing his arm. When Kun reaches for him again, he slaps his hand away. "I said stop."

Yongqin comes to a stop beside them. "Didn't you hear him, Kun? Stop it." But Kun has already retreated - unnecessarily far, in Sicheng's opinion. To Sicheng, Yongqin says, "The wind is amazing, isn't it?"

Sicheng hums his agreement and turns back to the Barrier. He can hear Kun and Ten's voices behind him, but chooses to ignore in favor of leaning closer to examine the dust pressed against the Barrier. Is that blue? Incredible. He's never seen that kind of color before-

A sudden blow to his back sends him sprawling, and he looks up with watering eyes at Yongqin, who smiles slightly, and Kun, who is frozen in place, eyes wide. 

"Y'know," Yongqin remarks, "I thought I would have to convince you, but this works too." Convince him? Convince him of what? Sicheng watches Kun's face fall rapidly and suddenly, something seems very wrong.

Vaguely, as if through a screen, Sicheng watches Kun punch Yongqin in the face. His eyes sting.

And then he realizes, _I'm on the other side of the Barrier_. The pain registers in that moment. He squeezes his eyes shut and grits his teeth against a scream. He screams anyways. It's as if all his cells have simultaneously ignited with the singular goal of hurting as much as possible. He gasps, only to feel his lungs collapse and shatter into millions of shards of glass. Flames shoot wildly through his insides. It hurts, it hurts _so much_. 

He tries to stand up. Stumbles. Dust swirls around him, blinding him, and distantly, through the haze of pain, he realizes he's lost sight of Kun and Yongqin. He can't hear them anymore, either, but maybe that's because the ringing in his ears is so loud. 

But he's _outside_. Properly. There is so much space around him that's never been before, and somehow, it doesn't sit right with him that he's going to die before he can properly explore the world.

He looks around, body screaming at the movement. All around him, the storm of reddish-gray rages - but he can see a faint silhouette of something in the distance. The mountain range, except it is not unreachable anymore. _At least I can look at them more closely now_ , he thinks, hysterical.

With that in mind, he staggers towards them. Each movement makes him feel as if his muscles have melted into a jelly-like substance, crushed underneath the weight, but he can't think straight and he can't force himself to stop moving, even as he screams until his throat is hoarse and what remains of his lungs burn. 

Even after what feels hours and hours, the mountains are no closer. The wind has died down, and the dust storm with it, but Sicheng cannot bring himself to glance back at the Settlements. It takes everything in him to trudge, step after painful step, towards the mountain range. The light here is strange, he notices idly. He's seeing colors that he didn't know existed, and they sparkle and dance together as if reveling in his pain. They also pierce and ricochet forcefully through his head, so he shuts his eyes. 

His ears ring insistently, demanding his attention. _Can't you screw off for a bit?_ he thinks, dazed. _I'm dealing with some other stuff at the moment._ But the ringing only grows louder, until it overwhelms his thoughts and bangs around happily in his body in a cacophony of pain. 

He stopped moving at some point. Frowning, he opens his eyes and discovers that he's lying stomach-down on the ground. The mountains are still no closer.

The will to keep moving dissipates with one agonizing breath. Sicheng realizes that nothing hurts anymore, and that he cannot feel the ground beneath him. What a shame. He didn't even make it to the mountains.

* * *

Everything is oddly white and rectangular. Boring. _What a sad excuse for an afterlife,_ Sicheng thinks, before realizing that he's thinking.

That's weird. He shouldn't be able to do that anymore. 

The agony hits in the next breath, and Sicheng glimpses movement and a pair of concerned eyes but cannot bring himself to care about them as he screams.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed! please feel free to leave a comment haha 
> 
> deleted line: "He sits as close as he can, using a border sign as a benchmark. "Don't go outside. The sun is a deadly lazer," it says. Sicheng snorts at the misspelling."
> 
> come talk to me on my [twitter](https://twitter.com/honeymus_tard)
> 
> thank you for reading <3


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